SportsGirl

If you listen carefully, you’ll start to hear the sound of an entire fan base in Dallas getting very excited about their chances for going deep in the playoffs this season. And for the first time in many years, they’re not off their rockers. The Dallas Cowboys are off to a 3-0 start and are looking pretty good. I’m not ready to book my ticket to Arizona but I do feel like they have a real shot at regaining some of their previous post-season glory.

Everyone expected that the defense would be the story this season. With a guy like Wade Phillips at the helm, a self-anointed great defensive coordinator, that defense would gel and would be ranked up there with the Bears in terms of dominance. The funny thing is, it’s really the offense that has stolen the show, thanks in large part to Jason Garrett and his fairly aggresive play calling. There was a lot of talk that Jerry Jones made the wrong move in hiring Garrett before a head coach was selected. Any new head coach is going to want to hand-pick their staff. And I’m not sure I ever truly believed that Jason Garrett was going to be the head coach this year, so it was pretty obvious that he would be the OC. But it’s turning out to be a really good move. Tony Romo’s numbers have been outstanding; so much so that people are including him in the discussion of who the best quarterbacks are in the league. And the Romo to Owens connection has been productive enough that we haven’t heard any bellyaching from TO so far (always have to include the “so far” with him). I’ve been very impressed with Romo’s pocket presence and his ability to dodge a few tackles and still make the throw. I’d say his contract negotiations are getting easier by the game. The defense is where I have the most questions still, which again is probably the opposite of what people thought before the season began.

When I think of the defense that’s been truly dominating so far I think of the Patriots. They’re allowing on average 11.7 points per game and only 207 total yards of offense. That is dominance. Then you have the Cowboys who are ranked 21st in defense, allowing on average 21.7 points per game and 337 total yards of offense. For a team that’s got the “Phillips 3-4″ defense in place, that’s not that great. It’s not bad, considering the losses they’ve suffered on defense due to injury, but it’s certainly not where I’d expect them to be. Miami’s defense is ranked above the Cowboys, for goodness sake!

But if they can have the start to the season that they’ve had, and they have the above-mentioned problems on defense, imagine where this team could go when they get healthy. Or get Tank Johnson, if he turns out to be a good signing. They’re ranked 2nd in the league on offense, so some slight improvement on D and we may just be able to live up to the pre-season hype that some people were pushing!

One quick note on Sunday night’s game. I love how the Bears thought they were LSU and tried the fake field goal. Do you think Lovie Smith watched the LSU game and thought it might be a good trick to have in his back pocket in case they were getting shellacked during a game? If you pull a stunt like that when your team is demoralized, you’ve got to realize the outcome can only be really good or really, really bad. It will never just be “oh, whoops that didn’t work. let’s move on”. And that was an ill-fated play from the snap, so I was a little surprised that Smith would even consent to trying it! Almost as if he had already given up at that point…

Up next for the Boys is the St. Louis Rams, a team that is already banged up on offense and who can’t seem to scrape together a win this season. This is one of those games that I think can be a trap. You get a little over confident about your ability, especially against an 0-3 team, and you let your guard down. So I don’t think it’s a gimme, but it ought to be as darn close to a gimme game as the Boys will see…at least until the next week when we play Buffalo. On second thought, I might want to check on what kind of deal American Airlines is running to Arizona in February!

I suppose the signing of defensive lineman Tank Johnson to the Cowboys was inevitable. The loss of Jason Ferguson leaves a big hole at nose tackle, one that Jeremiah Ratliff probably can’t fill all season. And this is a defense that’s already suffering from the loss of Terrance Newman and Greg Ellis, which was painfully evident at multiple times during their last two games. Plus, I have actually found myself thinking that Terrell Owens is not creating a circus around the team this year so we’re well over-due for our next head case. (more on that scary fact later)

About the best thing I can say on this signing is that, when he’s eligible to play in November, Johnson might actually be pretty good and create a large impact on the defense at a time when even the best teams need a shot in the arm to stay competitive. And the Boys will only be on the hook for about $250,000 this year and as little as $600,000 next year so it’s not like it will kill them in the salary cap if he flames out, or gets arrested on new weapons charges thus prompting a fresh suspension from Commissioner Goodell.

Now for the potential down-side…just re-read the above sentence. Any time a player has to get permission from a judge to be able to travel out of state for the Super Bowl, that’s probably evidence of a slight character issue. But this is a franchise that’s been willing to overlook some character issues, as long as the W’s keep piling up. And to some extent, I’m ok with that. Because to me, there are two kinds of character issues. There’s the kind where someone has a few off-the-field incidents that show poor judgement on their part but that don’t really distract from the team or the player’s overall productivity. Then there’s the Leonard Little “I killed someone while I was driving drunk” or the Terrell Owens “I destroyed an entire locker room and potentially indirectly lead to the demise of a true big-time quarterback’s career” type of character issues. (And Pac Man Jones gets lumped in there too, I don’t care if he’s never actually been charged with murder or assault. Guilty by association buddy. Your parents got it right all those years ago when they warned you about this) Those big types of character issues are going to carry increased ramifications in the Goodell era of the NFL, especially if you’re exhibiting a pattern of bad behavior. They have the potential to set a franchise back several years, especially when they sink TO-type money into a marginal-character player. And I don’t think we know yet which group Tank Johnson belongs to. He says he’s not worried about this go-’round; that he’s not even thinking about whether or not this is his proverbial last-shot. That’s great that he’s so confident but I’m not sure I trust the judgement of a man who, while serving an NFL suspension for his weapons charges gets arrested for drunk driving. What is it with these athletes getting popped for drunk driving? Seriously, if I can afford the $20 cab ride home when I think I’ve had too much, I’m guessing the multi-million dollar athletes ought to be able to scare up a few bucks to get a limo for the night. For goodness sake, pay someone to be part of your entourage and their sole function is to be your designated driver. How difficult is that? I think that the ones that get arrested for this truly just believe they’re above the law and they believe nothing is going to happen to them. And sadly it doesn’t take the mega-bucks to see this type of attitude in mainstream society. But I digress…

Bottom line: I’m not thrilled with the Tank Johnson signing but I’m not going to lambaste the Cowboys just yet. Because if Johnson can fly on the straight and narrow and he helps cover some of the holes in the defense, then Jerry Jones might start looking pretty smart. At which point I may have to move, but again, I digress…

If the Patriots were trying to make a statement on Sunday night about how they don’t need any more competitive advantage than just what they’ve got on the field, they did so in resounding fashion. The type of media circus I’m sure all the players, not to mention their coaches, dealt with this week could have caused this game to go two ways. They were either going to show everyone that in the height of scrutiny they can still handle their business, or they were going to crumble and play horribly thus providing fodder for every analyst who wants to say that their legacy has been tarnished in light of the cheating scandal. Thank goodness for their fans they chose option 1!

It’s not just that they beat the Chargers, whom most analysts said was still the same team from last year with the 14-2 record despite the loss of nearly their entire coaching staff. It’s that they gave such a dominant performance that was better than I’d seen them play in years (not counting last week’s game of course). Their defense, which has always been known to create huge plays, delivered with interception after interception. Not to mention the fact that they practically made LaDainian Tomlinson look like a non-factor. Then there’s Tom Brady, with 25 of his 31 passes completed for 279 yards and three touchdowns. So much for Randy Moss being a complete head case too. So far he’s proving that Corey Dillon isn’t the only disgruntled athlete who joins the Patriots and does an about-face with the attitude. Let’s hope I don’t have to eat those words later in the season…

The point being, the Patriots were dominant on both sides of the line of scrimmage last night and I believe it should hopefully silence some of the critics. It doesn’t lessen the absurdness of what happened in the Jets game, but I hope it ends some of the debate on whether or not they actually deserve those Super Bowl rings that they wear.

Of course there are whispers that this investigation has only just begun and that there’s more evidence that the Patriots have been using some type of alternate radio frequency to disrupt the opposing team’s signals. If it’s true, then let’s see some hard evidence. Even if it’s not true, it will certainly be a topic of discussion because it’s worth discussing. As Bill Simmons says in his Boston Blog, the Patriots are a hated franchise. Anyone who wins repeatedly becomes a hated franchise. So discuss all you want, but the statement was made loud and clear on Sunday night in Foxboro that the Patriots as a team have one distinct competitive advantage–their overwhelming talent on the field.

It’s a dark day for any Patriots fan. The league has ruled on the “Videogate” scandal involving a member of the Patriots videotaping the Jets coaching staff as they call their plays. This comes after commissioner Roger Goodell specifically instructed the teams not to engage in this kind of activity. And now, as if it wasn’t going to be torture enough for me to sit through the season listening to how Michigan choked time after time, I’m now going to have to wade through (probably) endless debates of just how big an advantage the Patriots gained from their cheating and how that impacts, or doesn’t, their victories.

I don’t know that anyone is going to be able to determine the magnitude of impact these types of illegal activities had on the overall success of the Patriots franchise. How do you determine exactly how many extra points you gained because you knew that on 3rd and 9 the defense was calling a blitz package? Seriously, if you don’t realize that they’re going to blitz you on 3rd and 9 you probably shouldn’t be a coach. But that brings me to my main point and that is that you could be standing on the other team’s sideline and actually call the play for them while simultaneously sending an ESP message to your coaching staff to be prepared for Reggie Bush to run it up the middle and Bush could still gain 20 yards because it’s all about execution on the field.

Al Michaels spent much of the telecast on opening night reminding us how drastic it would be for the Colts if Joseph Addai had actually been injured on the first play of the game instead of just having the wind knocked out of him. And the reason, according to Al, it would have been so devastating was because Indy doesn’t really have a backup plan at running back. Addai is the only guy, pardon the rhyme. So if you know that Indianapolis is going to hand off to Addai and almost exclusively to Addai, and yet Addai can still gain 100 yards a game, what good would it have done you to know exactly the play being called? If your blockers miss a block, and Addai finds the hole, what advantage was gained?

Now, this is not to excuse the Patriots from committing an ugly offense in cheating by stealing signals. I just don’t think there’s a place for this kind of “competitive advantage” in sports. Just play the damn game! But to all of the people who want to say that the Patriots, or more specifically Bill Belichick’s, legacy is tarnished or that the Super Bowl wins are invalid, I just don’t think your argument has merit. It’s a shame that a sharp guy like BB resorted to these kinds of tactics, but I don’t think it diminishes just how good Tom Brady is, because that’s all about execution.

I’m hoping that the Pats score a big win against the Chargers this weekend to prove to everyone that, in the height of scrutiny, they are still the team to beat this season. Especially since I’ve got my doubts that Michigan will be able to accomplish a similar feat and I refuse to spend my weekend talking about how much they both stink!

As the opening weekend of the new NFL season comes to a close (I’m writing this as I’m watching the Ravens and Bengals play part 1 of the 2-part MNF debut) I figured I’d comment on some of the highs and lows of the weekend.

Highs

The Cowboys played a heck of a game on Sunday! Now, I was a little underwhelmed with their defense, but in their defense, they were playing without Greg Ellis, Terrance Newman and they lost Jason Ferguson during the game. And when your offense is scoring 45 points, that can cover a few holes in a swiss-cheese defense!

New England and Houston both won their season openers, and in fairly decisive fashion I might add. The Patriots look like their going to have a wide-spread offensice attack this season and look like they have a real shot at winning their division, possibly even the AFC. Houston played the KC Chiefs so it’s hard to say if the win is indicative of the rest of their season, but hey, a win is a win and winning your season opener is a great building block for the spirit of the team.

Lows

Worst part of the weekend by far would be the injury to the Buffalo Bills Kevin Everrett. The most recent updates I’ve seen indicate that a full recovery is unlikely and I cannot even imagine how devestating that would be. I broke my back as a child and only now as an adult can I comprehend how serious the injury could have been. I was lucky enough to suffer no permanent damange, save for a few aches when it’s rainy outside. So my prayers go out to that young man and his family.

Not nearly as severe, but shocking in it’s own right, is the allegation surfacing that a member of the Patriots organization was caught taping the Jet’s coaching staff to steal their signals. If this is true, and I’m desperately hoping it’s not, I’m not even sure what the sanctions against the team should be. With all of the promise that team is exhibiting thus far, I find it inconceiveable that the organization would condone or promote that type of behavior. Bill Belichick just doesn’t strike me like the kind of coach that would even accept that information during the game, if a rogue member of the team happened to gather it. If he did, if he had any knowledge of this, or heaven forbid if it was his idea, I think he deserves to be fired. Unacceptable!

Matt Leinart just got picked off in his first pass of the season. Not that I particularly love him or hate him, but that sucks. Rough start.

I’m just happy that I can rest easy tonight knowing that I have an entire season to look forward to. I’m hopeful for more highs than lows but either way you slice it, it’s football baby!

That is, a slight pause from my depression to enjoy the start of a new NFL season. And the game last night, a great way to open the season in my opinion, was something of a blow out, though it didn’t appear it would be that way at the start.

I don’t have any particular affinity for either team playing last night, the Colts or the Saints. I like Peyton Manning, despite his constant over-exposure on my television, but I’m a Patriots fan so I can’t root too hard for him. Bottom line is, I just like to see a good game if I don’t have a rooting interest in either team playing. And last night delivered. Here are some thoughts…

1. Indy’s D looked pretty sharp. I know they lost their two corners to other teams, but it didn’t appear to hurt them at all. They even have a few rookies starting, by design or by injury, and I was impressed. Between Dwight Freeney’s pass rushing ability and Bob Sanders’ quickness, I think we’ll hear less this season about how the Colt’s D holds them back compared to that offense.
2. Neither Jason David nor Drew Brees is going to enjoy watching game film today. Brees looked uncharacteristically lost at times last night, throwing more picks that I’d expect from him. And those Indy receivers absolutely lit David up, consistently gaining two and three steps on him in the route. You’d think being an ex-Colt he’d have a leg up on that team, but clearly that was not the case.
3. Matt Giordano can book it! His 82-yard interception return for a touch down at the end of the game was awesome. I had toyed with the idea of turning the game off before it happened, since Indy pretty much had this one wrapped up. Now I’m glad I didn’t! That guy was truckin’. And he read that pass beautifully. Maybe the Saints ought to study that play to beef up their offensive weapons…
4. Joseph Addai will have no problem carrying the load as the only real option at running back. Although Kenton Keith had a couple of really nice carries throughout the game.What’s amazing to me is that everyone knows that Addai is the go-to back in that offense and he still easily gained over 100 yards. I did get tickled at hearing how many times Al Michaels felt the need to mention that Addai was shaken up on the first play of the game and how that was a tense moment. This of course led to Michaels reiterating that Addai is really the only option at running back and there isn’t a great back-up plan. You know, I love Al’s commentary most of the time, but after the second quarter, I’ve got it. Addai’s the featured back, he was shaken up on the first play and that could have been devastating had it been an injury…

So, all in all it was a good game. I’ve heard a lot of people talking about how they think Indy will only go about 11-5 this season and after the game last night, I think I’d raise that projection. Which makes me wonder if New England will be able to keep up. I was reading this morning about how Tom Brady’s shoulder has continued to plague him. As if I need another reminder that this season could be a long one for me. Just when I was starting to smile again…

It has not been a good weekend. The mere fact that this was a four-day weekend means by virtue it should be great. And add to that the fact that college football kicked off this weekend, you’d think I’d be the happiest person on the planet. Which I was, for all of 2 hours on Saturday. And then it started to crumble…

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a huge University of Michigan fan. It’s the one team that I’ve rooted for for over 20 years. My dad had a deal for all of us kids that when we turned 8 he’d take us to our first U of M football game. The game we went to was against the Miami Hurricanes. I still remember the final score–Michigan 30, Miami 31–and I remember walking off the field next to Miami players, glowering updwards at the men who had caused my Wolverines to lose. So needless to say I’ve always been passionate about this school. And for the last few years, we’ve sort of struggled to remind the college football general public that we are an elite team. I haven’t liked our quarterback since Tom Brady left and it seems like we’ve had the pieces in place a few times in a row but we can never quite make it come together. This was never more evident than last season. For those who don’t follow the Wolverines, we were having an undefeated season coming into the game with Ohio State, the arch rival. There was lots of discussion in the sports world about who should be ranked #1, OSU or U of M. Of course we know which way my vote swung. OSU was #1 because they had entered the season that way and hadn’t lost. And that gets into my feelings on pre-season rankings which we’ll cover at a later date. Anyways, Michigan lost, which is bad enough to lose again to Ohio State. But to top it off, that pretty much killed our chances of playing for the National Championship, even though I maintain that we should have had another shot, but that too is another topic for another day. We lost our bowl game and pretty much lost the right to be in the discussion for next year’s “who’s the best” discussion.

Fast forward to this weekend, and my hopes are high. We came into the season ranked 5th, which honestly felt a little too high. We’re opening our schedule with a game against Appalachian State, a name you probably don’t think about too often. At least until now that is. Michigan got to participate in a bit of history, except we were on the WRONG END! We lost, 32-34, to Appalachian State, the first time in history that an AP-ranked Div. 1-A team lost to a Div. 2-A team (which technically A State is in a sub-category of  Div. 1-A but whatever). First time ever. Lovely. And to make matters worse, this “David over Goliath” win was re-played and re-hashed on every network (including the NFL Network) all day long.

Now, that would be bad enough to pretty much ruin the whole season for me. And the season just began! But it just so happens that my alma mater UNT Mean Green played the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend. And got stomped. I had a glimmer of hope for UNT because they managed to land Todd Dodge, one of the winningest Texas high school football coaches ever. I knew we wouldn’t win against the Sooners, but I didn’t think it would be a massacre the way it ended.

So that was my weekend. Add to it that the Patriots placed Richard Seymour on the physically unable to play list and the league suspended Rodney Harrison for violating the banned substance policy and we’ve got what looks to be a depressing season already. Can we rewind please? At least let me prepare for my impending misery. What’s next? Bill Belichek has a heart attack on the sideline? I mean, come on! Let’s just pray that this was the only full-moon weekend of the football season and that maybe my teams can scrape together some modicum of dignity as the season progresses.